In a landmark decision today, the Supreme Court has found that the government has a responsibility to look for and protect endangered wildlife before logging in the contentious Brown Mountain forests of East Gippsland. âThis judgment has implications for all native forests that are set to be destroyed by logging,â said EEG spokesperson Jill Redwood. [?]

A five second film of an endangered potaroo could change the way environmental laws are applied to logging operations. JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA, PRESENTER: The discovery of a Long-footed Potaroo in forest in East Gippsland has thrown Victoria's environmental laws into question and the future of logging operations into doubt. [?]

ENVIRONMENTALISTS are claiming a landmark victory after the Supreme Court upheld a ban on logging of old-growth forest in hotly disputed parts of East Gippsland. Environment East Gippsland had sued VicForests, the government agency responsible for logging in state forests, over plans to log about 60 hectares at Brown Mountain, near Orbost. Justice Robert Osborn yesterday ruled that campaigners had shown that part of the proposed logging zone was home to endangered potoroo and glider species and should be protected [?]

ENVIRONMENT Minister Gavin Jennings moved to protect significant areas of old-growth forest in East Gippsland at the same time as releasing some of it for logging, a court has heard. Ian Waller, SC, for the state government's commercial timber agency VicForests, said the minister announced new parks and reserves in the vicinity of Brown Mountain last year along with other measures to protect threatened species in the area. They included a 100-metre buffer zone around Brown Mountain Creek and the retention per hectare of at least five hollow-bearing trees, which are important for habitat and breeding, where they were present in sufficient numbers. [?]

STATE-SANCTIONED logging of old-growth forest in East Gippsland poses a risk to threatened and endangered species and is at odds with the government's own legislation, an environment group has said. Environment East Gippsland is suing VicForests, the government agency responsible for logging in state forests, over plans to log about 60 hectares at Brown Mountain, which greens and the timber industry see as a symbolic battleground. The group won an injunction last year preventing logging in the area before the trial, which began in the Supreme Court sitting at Sale yesterday. [?]

A Supreme Court judge has compared images of a felled forest with a World War I battlefield before ordering a temporary ban on logging in a hotly contested part of East Gippsland. Environmentalists claimed a historic victory after winning an injunction over logging of two zones of old-growth forest at Brown Mountain, seen as a symbolic battleground by greens and the timber industry. The injunction will stand until a trial to test whether the logging would pose a threat to endangered species, particularly the long-footed potoroo. [?]

Environmentalists have won a landmark court injunction to halt logging in old-growth forest in far east Gippsland. The temporary injunction brings into doubt a State Government decision to allow logging in two areas at Brown Mountain, north of Orbost. Victorian Environment Minister Gavin Jennings last month lifted a seven-month moratorium on logging at the mountain, reasoning government surveys had found no direct evidence of threatened species. [?]

A Brumby government minister has used Twitter to make clear his opposition to a Cabinet endorsed government policy on forestry he personally announced last week. VEXNEWS understands from government sources the policy had been formally approved by the Brumby Cabinet some time ago but was not what the minister had pushed for originally. On this occasion, the browns, including an exalted alumni of Forestry union cadres operating under deep cover in adviser circles, prevailed over the government greens faction in order to protect Victorian jobs from the navel-gazing avarice of inner-city Greens and doctorsâ wives who all use timber products but donât want logging. [?]